1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent No. 5044508 discloses a connector for retaining a terminal fitting by a sleeve. This terminal fitting includes an electrical contact portion to be connected electrically to a terminal fitting of a mating connector, a hollow cylindrical wire connecting portion to be connected to a core of a wire and a flange on an end part of the wire connecting portion near the electrical contact portion. The sleeve contacts the flange from behind and a rear holder contacts the sleeve from behind. The terminal fitting is retained in a connector housing by fixing the rear holder to the connector housing.
The above-described electrical contact portion is of a type called a closed barrel and diameters of usable wires are limited sufficiently so that many types of wires cannot be used. Open barrels can be used to accommodate wires ranging from thin wires to thick wires. A charging terminal with an open barrel is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-75298 and a terminal fitting with an open barrel is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-227090.
A wire is crimp-connected to an open barrel by crimping each barrel piece toward a bottom plate without changing the position of the bottom plate. Thus, a center position of the wire after crimping varies depending on a wire diameter, and a center position of a thin wire after crimping is located lower than that of a thick wire. Further, the amount of compressing of a thin wire against an inner peripheral sealing surface of a rubber plug mounted behind a terminal fitting is originally small. Thus, if a center position of the wire is displaced down from a center position of the rubber plug, the amount of squeezing becomes smaller on an upper part of the inner peripheral sealing surface of the rubber plug, thereby reducing sealing performance.